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Saturday, June 09, 2007

Pastor to serve 20 years in prison

Pastor Gregory Michael Butler of Emmanuel Apostolic Church in Winston-Salem was convicted two counts of statutory rape and three counts of taking indecent liberties with a child. Butler will serve 20 years.

Butler abused his pastor relationship with the 14-year-old daughter of a woman he was romantically involved with. What started as counseling ended as rape - in his Cadillac, in a hotel, and in his church.

The girl was a survivor of molestation at age 7. Pastor Butler filled a father figure role in this young girls life. She needed help, Butler was supposed to fill this role. Unfortunately, he abused his relationship. The girl is now receiving professional counseling. my guess is she will be in counseling for a long time.

After the sentencing, about 30 supporters of Butler walked out the courtroom, many away wiping tears. Some supporters were members of Butler’s church, which is on Vargrave Street, and has about 35 members.

I'm starting to sense a pattern: My advice - do not ever send your children to one-on-one counseling. Insist on parental oversight.

8 comments:

I'm curious- was the minister a qualified and regulated counsellor? I have never and will never understand why people think just because they are a minister / priest (insert whatever) these people know how to counsel people - I soent years training to get my counselling qualification yet if I stucka dog-collar/ habit etc etc on i would be thought of as suitable straight away?

I am a born - again, Bible believing Christian who sees this type of mess going on all the time and am wondering why the media and church leaders do not expose it more often. Well, if they aren't doing their jobs as Christians - let alone as decent, honest human beings - to warn people and work towards the protection of the innocent and punishment of the guilty, I am. I am going to use this on my weblog to warn people against what is going on. Thank you very much. http://healtheland.wordpress.com

The actual sentence was for a minimum of 60 years. The 18 cases (2 statutory rape, 3 taking indecent liberties with a minor and 13 statutory sex offenses with a minor) were consolidated by the judge into 3 sentences, each a minimum of 240 months (20 years) and the sentences were to run consecutively. There is no chance of parole. The victim found it very difficult to come forward with the accusations because Pastor Butler had become a father figure and lover to her over the year and a half that this went on. The abuse only really came to light after the girl attempted suicide because of her feelings of guilt and the subsequent outpouring of the incidents. The evidence in court was overwhelming and the jury unanimously found him guilty on all counts. The only discussion was on some specific details, not on the overall guilt of the pastor.

This man is INNOCENT. He was convicted on circumstantial evidence. There were no medical reports and no DNA that tied him to this crime. The mother of the girl vowed to destroy the minister after he announced in church that he would not marry her. He never gave the mother any reason to believe that he would marry her and neither did he take indecent liberties with the young girl. The young girl has a history of accusing people of molesting her, including her own brother, her mother's boyfriends and others. As for the minister, he just happen to take the blunt end of the stick for simply trying to help the family. They set him up - point blank. I've known the man for years and his integrity is sharper than iron.